The digital wave is massive, and business is no longer as usual. Marketers are confronted daily with an expanding spectrum and most of them fail to understand how to deal with the digital situation. It is, in this regard, expert marketers have embraced growth hacking a strategy that continues to deliver despite the change in market forces as one metric that matters.
Every strategy you execute, the technique you develop and the tool you implement should be informed by your desire for growth. You achieve this by utilizing the One Metric That Matters (OMTM) to run your business.
Most companies get sucked into the shiny object syndrome, which is our affinity for the latest technologies, platforms, and tactics as well. Yes, this willingness for fresh stuff is positive, but it can also be the reason why companies end up exiting the market. The OMTM approach breaks the tendency of searching for the next big thing. The critical tool draws the difference between businesses that randomly search for something that will work and those that thoroughly test the most-effective areas of operation. Focus and discipline are part of the requisite characters needed to run a powerful concept such as the OMTM. For successful business development, it is critical to select and observe a metric that is relevant to the situation at hand. But, this is neither an excuse to ignore other parts in the business, nor the end of the collection of critical data the business generates. The one metric approach has to be the line you draw in the sand and a commitment you make to optimize performance focusing on that one metric.
Why should you focus on one metric? There are four reasons why you should focus on one metric. These include:
- Cut through plenty of nagging concerns, questions, as well as uncertainties, and provide the solution
- Make sure goals are accurately set, this is what determines success
- Direct focus to both your effort and your employees’ efforts
- Encourage experimentation by cutting success or failure feedback against that one metric Most successful companies from Silicon Valley focus on a specific metric that they want to achieve. This is done by asking two crucial questions.
What is the end goal? What should we focus on?
According to Y Combinator a popular Silicon Valley incubator Every week your company should grow at least 7%. This growth is in terms of the number of users or revenue, which are metrics that show whether a company focuses on what consumers actually want. The OMTM should be your beacon and the guiding force behind every operation. Focusing on a single metric gives us a chance to come up with important goals relevant to a specific metric such as conversion optimization. This gives you the easiest option of benchmarking for success and know whether you are done with the metric.
How to find your OMTM There are two ways to do this:
- Fix the worst Only when there is a solid foundation in place, you can ignore #1. But, if the business is not performing as expected in several areas and you are trying to fix everything at once, start fixing the worst. Areas, where your business is the weakest, are usually where time and attention makes the massive impact on business.
- Business type and stage of the company Two crucial factors help in identifying the ideal OMTM. That is, the business you are in, such as Mobile, SaaS or e-commerce. And the state you are at in terms of business growth like the development of new features or business model validation.
Putting your One Metric That Matters to work Sharing the OMTM by the whole team is considered a best practice. However, as the business continues to grow you may assign different members or teams particular metrics. This will encourage everyone including the staff to scrutinize a particular OMTM that has been assigned. Scrutiny helps in spotting lagging metrics. It is worth noting that growth hacking is not a substitute for digital marketing. The two are intrinsically linked with both emphasizing on experimentation, creativity, and measurement to accomplish goals.
The OMTM is a unique process that is utilized in growth sprints innovative ways for startups and SMEs, to sprint for growth opportunity that delivers a great result within the shortest possible timeframe. What may affect a company in trade may not be an issue to another. Growth hacking is one metric that matters since it includes search engine optimization (SEO), search engine advertising (SEA), public relations (PR), Analytics and Conversion Optimization. All of which play a significant role in growing your business.